User terminal device and service providing method thereof

ABSTRACT

A method for providing a service in a user terminal device, which includes downloading a service hub program, installing the service hub program, generating an icon container corresponding to the service hub program, and displaying the icon container on a screen. If the icon container is selected, a list regarding an application program corresponding to the service hub program and a list regarding an icon of the application program are received from the server, and an icon regarding each application program included in the list regarding the application program corresponding to the service hub program is displayed according to the list regarding the icon of the application program.

PRIORITY

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 (a) to KoreanPatent Application Nos. 2010-0095544 and 2011-0012347, which were filedin the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Sep. 30, 2010 and Feb. 11,2011, respectively, the entire disclosure of each of which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a user terminal device and aservice providing method thereof, and more particularly, to a userterminal device for collectively providing services via a service hubcorresponding to a particular organization, and a service providingmethod thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art

A user of a user terminal device, such as a smart phone, can access anexternal server such as application store, in order to utilize variousapplication programs in addition to application programs installed tothe user terminal device. More specifically, the user can download anduse a free or paid application program.

Further, as users of user terminal devices are increasing, various-scaleorganizations such as businesses, schools, hospitals, publicinstitutions, etc., can use a specific application program in common.Hence, users belonging to these types of organizations individuallydownload and utilize the specific application program.

However, for a user who is not familiar with the user terminal device,downloading and installing the application program can be difficult. Inaddition, when there are multiple application programs commonlyrequired, it can be burdensome to search for and download each of theapplication programs.

Thus, when there are the application programs commonly used by aparticular organization, a technique for easily downloading and usingthe application programs from a server is needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present disclosure has been provided to solve theabove-mentioned and/or other problems and disadvantages and to provideat least the advantages described below.

An aspect of the present invention is to provide a user terminal devicethat receives a plurality of services via a service hub with respect toa certain organization and a service providing method thereof.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a serviceproviding method of a user terminal device is provided. The methodincludes downloading, by the user terminal device, a service hubprogram; installing the service hub program; generating an iconcontainer corresponding to the service hub program; displaying the iconcontainer on a screen; receiving an input selecting the icon container;receiving, from a server, a first list including application programscorresponding to the service hub program and a second list includingicons of the application programs; and displaying the icons of theapplication programs.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a userterminal device is provided. The user terminal device includes a storageunit that stores a service hub program and an application program; adisplay unit that displays an icon container corresponding to theservice hub program; and a control unit that controls the display unitto display icons regarding application programs corresponding to theservice hub program on a screen, if the icon container is selected.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a userterminal device is provided. The user terminal device includes anauthentication manager that performs authentication by transmittingunique information and user information of the user terminal device to aserver; a download manager that downloads a service hub program, a firstlist including application programs corresponding to the service hubprogram, and a second list including icons of the application programsfrom the server, when the authentication is successful; an icongeneration manager that generates an icon container including the iconsof the application programs in the first list; and a display controllerthat displays the icon container on a screen.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The above and/or other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present invention will become apparent and morereadily appreciated from the following description, when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a network system according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a screen configuration of a user terminal deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 3 through 8 are block diagrams illustrating a user terminal deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate a method for downloading and installing aservice hub program in a user terminal device according to an embodimentof the present invention;

FIGS. 11 and 12 are block diagrams illustrating a server according tovarious embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a service hub registration processaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an application program setting processaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 15 through 18 are diagrams illustrating service hub management ofan operator of an organization assigned a server account according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a method for setting an applicationprogram per group according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a service providing method of a userterminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a method for installing a servicehub program according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a method for processing anapplication program corresponding to a service hub program according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a method for limiting programavailability according to a location in a user terminal device accordingto an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a method for deleting a program ordata according to state change in a user terminal device according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 is a signal flow diagram between a user terminal device and aserver according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 26 and 27 are flowcharts illustrating a service providing methodof a server according to various embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments of the present invention are described in detailbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the followingdescription, the matters defined in the description are provided toassist a comprehensive understanding of the present invention, and it isobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that predeterminedmodifications or changes of the matters described herein can be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention. The same referencenumbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or likeparts. Further, detailed descriptions of well-known functions andstructures incorporated herein may be omitted to avoid obscuring thesubject matter of the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a network system according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a network system includes a plurality of userterminal devices 100-A1 through 100-An and 100-B1 through 100-Bm, anetwork 10, and a server 200. For example, the network 10 can beimplemented using a general communication network or a wired/wirelessInternet network.

The user terminal devices are classified based on an organization of theuser. That is, the user terminal devices are classified as the userterminal devices 100-A1 through 100-An belonging to an organization A,and the user terminal devices 100-B1 through 100-Bm belonging to anorganization B. Further, the server 200 offers an adaptive applicationprogram for the user terminal devices belonging to the correspondingorganization.

For example, a provider for operating the server 200 can enter into acontract with and receive a service request from a representative of theorganization. Hence, the provider registers a service hub for thecorresponding organization and configures an adaptive service hubprogram for the organization. The service hub program indicates aprogram provided and installed to the user terminal devices belonging tothe organization in order to easily download, update, and manage one ormore application programs set in the user terminal device for thecorresponding organization.

When the organization A requests the service in FIG. 1, the server 200receives various information, such as a list of users belonging to theorganization A and user terminal devices of the users, and registers theservice hub based on the information. The service hub program may begenerated, for example, by altering detailed setup items such as awebpage skin, a menu, and an available application program setup, whilesustaining a basic platform, or by newly designing an entire platformaccording to the request of the corresponding organization.

When the user terminal devices 100-A1 through 100-An of organization Aaccess the server 200, the server 200 transmits the service hub programcorresponding to organization A to the user terminal devices 100-A1through 100-An.

Authentication can be performed before the service hub program istransmitted, using various well-known manners. For example, the userterminal device can transmit, to the server 200, user information (e.g.,an IDentification (ID) and password) and unique information of the userterminal device (e.g., International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI),Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN),etc.). The user information can also be provided to the server 200 froman operator of the organization.

After receiving the user information and the unique information of theuser terminal devices, the server 200 authenticates each user terminaldevice by comparing the received information with the informationprovided from the corresponding organization in advance. When completingauthentication for a user terminal device, the server 200 transmits theservice hub program to the user terminal device.

When the user terminal device downloads and installs the service hubprogram, an icon container is generated and displayed in a screen of theuser terminal device. The icon container corresponds to the service hub,i.e., the service hub program. In addition, the service hub programitself may be referred to as a hub container.

After downloading and installing, when the user selects the iconcontainer, a screen of the user terminal device displays icons of theapplication programs for the organization or the group (department,rank, gender, age, etc.) of the corresponding user in the organization.The corresponding application programs may be downloaded from the server200 all together or selectively.

Additionally, a user terminal device may contain pre-loaded versions ofthe service hub program used by a corresponding organization and theapplication programs to be used by the service hub program may be soldto the corresponding organization. For example, in this case, theservice hub program and the application programs may be installedalready at the point of the release of the user terminal device.

Accordingly, the users of the organization A can collectively usevarious application programs to be used in the organization A byexecuting the service hub program provided from the server 200. Further,when there is an old version of a program, the program may be easilyupdated by the server 200.

When organization B does not make a separate contract with the server200, the user terminal devices 100-B1 through 100-Bm of the organizationB cannot receive the service hub program.

Additionally, the server 200 may limit the service use according to alocation change or a state change of a user terminal device. That is,when the location of the user terminal device leaves an effective area,the availability of the service hub program installed to the userterminal device or at least one of the application programs provided forthe service hub program and the user terminal device can be restricted.

A method for restricting the availability can be implemented in manydifferent ways. For example, without intervention of the server 200, auser terminal device itself can determine whether or not to use theservice hub program by obtaining and comparing its location informationwith effective area information. For the program determined asunavailable, the user terminal device can delete the corresponding icondisplayed, or display the icon in the deactivated state. Alternatively,as normally displaying the icon, the user terminal device can display anerror message while performing no operation when the icon is selected.The effective area information can be provided from the server 200, aplurality of effective areas can be defined, or the effective areainformation can be changed.

Alternatively, the server 200 can directly restrict the availability ofthe service hub program by comparing a location of the user terminaldevice and the effective area. That is, the server 200 can receivelocation information periodically, or in every case of a particularevent, (e.g., when the user terminal device transits from a turn-offstate to a turn-on state) from the user terminal device. In this case,unique information of the user terminal device can be received togetherwith the location information. Upon locating the user terminal device,the server 200 determines whether the location is within the effectivearea, and does not take any action when the user terminal device islocated within the effective area. However, when the user terminaldevice is outside the effective area, the server 200 can restrict theavailability of the service hub program or at least one applicationprogram. More specifically, the server 200 can generate and send a listof unavailable programs to the user terminal device, or sendavailability information setting the availability or a commandinstructing to set the unavailable state. Accordingly, the user terminaldevice disables a particular application program or the service hubprogram.

As described above, the server 200 can restrict the service useaccording to the state change of the user terminal device. That is, whenthe state of the user terminal device or the user changes, e.g., whenthe user of the user terminal device is no longer a member of theorganization, when the user loses the user terminal device, when theuser transfers to another department, when the user takes time off,etc., the server 200 can delete the application programs or the servicehub program adaptively set for the corresponding organization, ordisable the application programs or the service hub program for aspecific term.

The state change of the user can be received at the server 200 from thecorresponding organization or the user. The server 200 can send adeletion instruction or a suspension instruction according to thereceived information or request. Accordingly, the corresponding userterminal device can delete or suspend the designated program. In thiscase, not only the program but also data generated in the execution ofthe corresponding program can be deleted or suspended.

Additionally, the server 200, which has all of information relating tothe user terminal devices of the organization, can support a groupservice based on that information. That is, the server 200 can support agroup mail service so that a group mail (or message) can be transferredbetween the user terminal devices. For example, when a user terminaldevice requests a group mail transmission, the server 200 sends thegroup mail for the service hub or a particular group of the service hubusing pre-stored information. More specifically, the user of the userterminal device can send a message for a particular user or group usingthe user terminal device. The server 200 searches for a transmissiontarget using pre-registered information and then sends a message to thesearched target.

Additionally, the server 200 can send a notification message to the eachuser terminal device included in service hub or a group in the servicehub. That is, the server 200 can directly input a message and notify themessage to each user terminal device or groups terminal devices withinthe organization.

Further, the server 200 provides an organization address book of theorganization, thereby supporting a service for users to inquire aboutother users, i.e., receive other users' information, in theorganization/group. When a user of the user terminal device selects anaddress book check service using the user terminal device, the userterminal device requests a user list or detailed information of theservice hub from the server 200. According to the request, the server200 sends the address book including phone numbers or e-mailinformation.

FIG. 2 illustrates a screen configuration of a user terminal deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a screen of a user terminal device 100 having aservice hub program installed therein displays an icon container 20. Theicon container 20, which is generated in accordance with the service hubprogram, includes icons of the application programs for thecorresponding user terminal device 100 and the corresponding service hubprogram. For example, when the user selects the icon container 20, icons21 through 26 included in the corresponding icon container 20 aredisplayed in the screen. While FIG. 2 illustrates six icons within theicon container 20, obviously, the number of the icons is not limited tosix.

In FIG. 2, “New” and “Update” are displayed in icons 23 and 25,indicating that the Minutes application of icon 23 is newly installedand that there is an update available for the Chatting application oficon 25. As such, when an icon is displayed, its display state candiffer according to the state of the application program correspondingto the icon. In addition to New” and “Update”, other appropriateindicators may be used. For example, when an application program of thelatest version is normally installed, a word such as “Normal” or “Nochange” may be displayed in one side of the corresponding icon.Alternatively, display states can be indicated without words, e.g., anabnormal state can be informed by flickering the icon or by changing acolor, a location, a size, or a shape of the icon.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a user terminal device accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. For example, the userterminal device of FIG. 3 can be one of the user terminal devices 100-A1through 100-An and 100-B1 through 100-Bm in the system illustrated inFIG. 1, and implemented using various terminal devices such as mobileterminals like smart phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs),electronic notebooks, MP3 players, and Personal Computers (PCs).Further, the user terminal device is not necessarily limited theportable terminal devices, and may be implemented using various terminaldevices such as Televisions (TVs), and digital photo frames.

Referring to FIG. 3, the user terminal device includes a memory 110, acontroller 120, and a display 130. The memory 110 stores a service hubprogram and application programs available in the user terminal device100, and the display 130 displays an icon container generated accordingto an installation of the service hub program. When the displayed iconcontainer is selected, the controller 120 controls the display 130 todisplay the icons of the application programs, e.g., as illustrated inFIG. 2.

The controller 120 can collectively or selectively download at least oneapplication program from the server 200 by executing the service hubprogram stored to the memory 110. The service hub program can beinitially installed to in the memory 110, or downloaded from the server200 and installed later.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a user terminal device according to anembodiment of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 4 illustrates auser terminal device for downloading a service hub program from a server200.

Referring to FIG. 4, the user terminal device includes the memory 110,the controller 120, the display 130, an input unit 140, and acommunication unit 150. The communication unit 150 accesses the server200 and downloads the service hub program and the application programs.

The input unit 140 is used to input information or commands. Forexample, the input unit 140 can be implemented using a touch screenintegrally formed with the display 130, or using separate keypad.

When user information is input through the input unit 140, in order toauthenticate the user terminal device, the controller 120 sends the userinformation and unique information of the user terminal device to theserver 200 via the communication unit 150. When the authentication isaccomplished, the controller 120 downloads the service hub program fromthe server 200 and installs it in the memory 110. Thereafter, thecontroller 120 can generate and control the display 130 to display anicon container corresponding to the service hub program, as describedabove regarding FIG. 3.

Additionally, the controller 120 may receive information regarding theapplication programs from the server 200, by executing the service hubprogram. That is, the controller 120 may download the applicationprograms, a list of the application programs, or a list of the icons,via the communication unit 105. For example, when the service hubprogram is installed and executed, the controller 120 transmits variousinformation, such as user information, unique information, andidentification information of the service hub program, to the server200, via the communication unit 150. Thereafter, the controller 120receives a list of the application programs corresponding to the servicehub program and a list of the icons of the application programs from theserver 200.

Using the list of the icons, the controller 120 generates an iconcontainer including icons for the application programs, and the iconsfor the application programs, and provide them to the display 130.

The list of the application programs includes the application programsdesignated for the organization and the group of the user of the userterminal device.

For example, when the service hub program is initially executed, thecontroller 120 receives the list of the application programs, downloadsthe application programs of the list from the server 200, and installsthe programs in the memory 110.

Alternatively, even when a plurality of application programs to updateor to newly install are registered for the service hub, the applicationprograms or the update data can be downloaded all together. In thiscase, the execution screen of the service hub program displays a menurequesting the collective download or the collective update. When theuser selects the collective download or the collective update, thecorresponding operation is performed.

For example, the controller 120 checks the state of the existingapplication programs currently downloaded or installed on the userterminal device in order to determine whether the application programsinclude an application to update or install. Upon determining theapplication program to update or install, the controller 120 controlsthe display 130 to change the display state of the icon according to thestate of the corresponding application program, as illustrated above inFIG. 2.

Accordingly, when an icon corresponding to an application program notinstalled is selected among the displayed icons, e.g., indicated as“New”, the controller 120 downloads the corresponding applicationprogram from the server 200 and installs it to the memory 110.

Further, when the icon corresponding to the application program of theold version is selected among the displayed icons, e.g., indicated as“Update”, the controller 120 may update the application program of theold version installed in the memory 110 by downloading a newer versionor update data for the application program of the old version from theserver 200.

Additionally, the controller 120 can be implemented such that theapplication program provided for the user terminal device is confirmedonly by selecting the icon container displayed in the screen. That is,the user terminal device also offers a function, such as “Menu”, withwhich the user can confirm and select various functions. When the userselects the function “Menu”, all of the functions of the user terminaldevice can be displayed as a menu tree.

Although not illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, a user terminal device canfurther include a location calculation unit for calculating its locationinformation. The location calculation unit may calculate the locationinformation using Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) information orutilize location information obtained over a 3G network. Alternatively,the location calculation unit may calculate the location informationusing a geomagnetic sensor of the user terminal device.

When the location of the user terminal device is known and the servicehub program is initially executed, the controller 120 can register thelocation of the user terminal device by transmitting the currentlocation information to the server 200. Thus, based on the registeredlocation for the user terminal device, the server 200 can controlwhether to provide the service hub program and the application programto the user terminal device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a user terminal device accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. More specifically, FIG. 5illustrates a controller 120 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the controller 120 includes an authenticationmanager 121, a download manager 122, an icon generation manager 123, adisplay controller 124, and a state check manager 125. Theauthentication manager 121 performs an authentication process with theserver 200 by sending various information such as unique information,user information, and location information of the user terminal device,to the server 200. Thereafter, the server 200 certifies whether thecorresponding user, i.e., the user terminal device, is authorized todownload the service hub program by checking the received information,determines whether the download is possible, and transmits theauthentication result to the authentication manager 121 via thecommunication unit 150. According to the authentication result, theauthentication manager 121 determines whether to download the servicehub program.

When the authentication manager 121 determines to download the servicehub program, the download manager 122 sends a transmission request forthe service hub program to the server 200 via the communication unit150, and then receives the service hub program from the server 200.

When the service hub program is received, installed, and executed at theuser terminal device, the download manager 122 can request informationof the application programs by transmitting various information, asdescribed above, for specifying the user terminal device, to the server200.

After authenticating the user terminal device, the server 200 sends alist of the application programs corresponding to the user terminaldevice and the service hub program, and a list of icons for theapplication programs, to the download manager 122.

The download manager 122 can protect the downloaded application programagainst the access from other programs, such as menu or file manager.That is, the user may not be able to access the application programprovided by the service hub through functions such as the menu functionor the file search function, and can access only through the service hubprogram. Accordingly, the download manager 122 can hide theabove-mentioned application programs by preventing them from beingdisplayed in the menu tree and excluding them from the search target inthe search.

The download manager 122 is operated in the same way as a secure foldermanager in the above description; however, a secure folder manager maybe provided separately, irrespective of the operation of downloading.That is, the secure folder manager can secure information such as anapplication list and an icon received from the server 200, such that itis not exposed to outside. For example, such information may be storedin a hidden state.

In addition, a user may set or release a separate password for eachapplication received through a service hub program. That is, a securefolder manager may add and display a separate menu for selecting apassword setting function and a password releasing function in a servicehub program menu. If a user selects the menu, an area for setting orreleasing a password with respect to various applications is displayed.The user may set a password by inputting the password in an areacorresponding to a desired application or may release a password settingof a desired application by selecting a password releasing button.

If a user selects an application encrypted with a password, a UserInterface (UI) for requesting an input of the password is displayed on ascreen. The user may use the corresponding application only when thepassword is accurately input on the UI. As such, security may be furtherstrengthened as a password is set for each application.

A password may be set or released with respect to all of theapplications or use of a service hub program instead of eachapplication. That is, if a user selects an icon container, a UI forrequesting an input of a password may be displayed on a screen. If auser inputs the password accurately, information regarding variousapplications corresponding to the relevant service hub program may bedisplayed. In addition, a password may be set or released by group. Thatis, a plurality of applications may be classified into groups and apassword may be set or released with respect to each group.

Further, a route or a method to access an application received via aservice hub program as described above may be unified. That is,applications may be configured such that operations such as icondisplay, application execution, application removal, etc., are onlyperformed through a service hub program. In this case, a user may checkinformation regarding applications received via a service hub programand select whether to execute an operation when an icon container isselected on a screen.

As described above, a service hub program may perform various processingto maintain security of various information received via the service hubprogram.

The icon generation manger 123 downloads icon data from the server 200based on the received icon list. Thereafter, the icon generation manger123 generates the icon container or the icon by managing the icon data.That is, the icon generation manger 123 generates the icon containerincluding the icons for the application programs according to thereceived icon list.

The display controller 124 controls the display 130 to display the iconcontainer in the screen. Therefore, when the icon container is selected,the display controller 124 controls the display 130 to display the iconsof the icon container.

The state check manager 125 changes the display state of each icon inthe icon container according to the current installation state of theapplication program of the first list. Accordingly, the user can easilyconfirm the state of the application program provided in the servicehub. When the user selects the icon, the processing corresponding to theicon state is performed.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are block diagrams illustrating user terminal devices forproviding a Location Based Service (LBS) according to embodiments of thepresent invention. Specifically, the LBS limits the availability for theservice hub program or at least one of the application programscorresponding to the service hub program according to the location ofthe user terminal device.

Referring to FIG. 6, the user terminal device 100 includes a memory 110,a controller 120, a display 130, and a location calculation unit 160.The memory 110, the controller 120, and the display 130 operate asdescribed above in the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5.

The location calculation unit 160 calculates a location information ofthe user terminal device. As described above, the location informationcan be calculated using GPS information, location information obtainedfrom the 3G network, location coordinates calculated by a geomagneticsensor module of the user terminal device, etc.

The controller 120 supports the LBS, based on the location informationand the effective area information. That is, according to whether thelocation information falls outside of the effective area information,the availability of at least one of the application programs or theservice hub program is limited, the authentication result is adjusted,or the location is registered. The LBS can be executed when the servicehub operates only in a specific region requested by the correspondingorganization, i.e., only in the effective area.

For example, when the location of the user terminal device is in theeffective area, the controller 120 displays the icon containercorresponding to the service hub program by normally executing theservice hub program. Accordingly, when the corresponding icon containeris selected, the controller 120 displays the icons of the icon containerin the screen.

However, when the location of the user terminal device leaves theeffective area, the controller 120 disables the service hub program orat least one application program. That is, when the service hub programis disabled, the controller 120 can delete the icon container from thescreen or display the icon container as being in an unselectable state.Alternatively, even when the icon is selected, the controller 120 canmerely restrict the icon display.

When the application program is disabled, the controller 120 can deleteor display the icon in the unselectable state by disabling all or partof the application programs for the corresponding service hub.

The effective area information can be frequently set or changed in awebpage provided from the server 200, and a plurality of the effectiveareas can be set.

The authentication and/or the use of only a particular applicationprogram of the multiple application programs may be restricted accordingto the location information. In this case, for the plurality of theeffective areas as stated above, the authentication and/or the use ofthe different application program may be restricted per effective area.For example, when the application programs for the service hub are a1,a2, a3, b1, b2, c1, and c2, only a1, a2, and a3 can be used in the areaA, only b1 and b2 can be used in the area B, and only c1 and c2 can beused in the area C.

The operations of the controller 120 based on the location informationmay be performed by the user terminal device itself, or controlled withthe intervention of the server 200.

When the user terminal device itself provides the LBS, and when theservice hub program is executed, the user terminal device receives theeffective area information from the server 200. The effective areainformation may be received every time the service hub program isexecuted, when the effective area is changed after one reception in theinitial execution, or on the periodic basis.

The controller 120 checks whether the user terminal device is located inthe effective area by comparing the effective area information receivedfrom the server 200 with the location information. Therefore, when theuser terminal device is in the effective area, the controller 120supports the normal use of the service hub program and the applicationprogram, as described above. However, when the user terminal device islocated outside of the effective area, the controller 120 limits theavailability of the application program or the service hub program. Thatis, when a program is running, the controller 120 automaticallyterminates the execution of the corresponding program. Thereafter, whenan execution request for the program of the limited availability isreceived, the controller 120 ignores the execution request. When theavailability is limited, the display state of the icon container or theicon can be displayed in the inactivated state as aforementioned. Inthis case, when the available application program exists, the activatedicon of the application program can be retained.

When the server 200 provides the LBS, the user terminal device cantransmit its location information to the server 200 periodically orevery time a particular event takes place. After receiving the locationinformation, the server 200 determines whether the service issupportable by comparing the effective area information set by theorganization with the location information. Thereafter, the server 200transmits availability information so that the user terminal device canlimit the availability according to the information, if necessary.

The availability information can set the application programs and theservice hub program to the available state when the location of the userterminal device is located in the effective area, and set at least oneof application programs and the service hub program to the unavailablestate, when the location of the user terminal device is outside of theeffective area. Further, the availability information can be in a listof the unavailable application programs including information relatingto the forbidden application program outside the effective area amongthe application programs provided for the corresponding service hub.

The controller 120 limits the availability of the application programsof the list. Additionally, when all of the application programs areunavailable, the controller 120 may limit the availability of theservice hub program itself.

The controller 120 may control the display 130 to display the icon orthe icon container for the unavailable application program of theapplication programs, in an inactivated state.

As described above, when the service hub program is initially executed,the controller 120 sends and registers various information to the server200. Using the received location information, the server 200 checkswhether the corresponding user terminal device is located in theeffective area. When the user terminal device is located in theeffective area, the server 200 can transmit the service hub program orthe application program. However, the authentication fails when the userterminal device is located outside of the effective area.

Further, the server 200 can consider time. That is, the server 200 mayregister the corresponding user terminal device only when the servicehub program is executed during a preset time period, e.g., starting fromthe service hub registration, or the conclusion or validation of thecontract with the organization.

Referring to FIG. 7, a user terminal device includes a memory 110, acontroller 120, a display 130, an input unit 140, a communication unit150, and a location calculation unit 160. As described in relation toFIG. 4, the communication unit 150 communicates with server 120 and cantransmit and receive programs and data. The input unit 140 can receivevarious information and/or commands from the user. Because thecomponents illustrated in FIG. 7, except for the location calculationunit 160, are the same as those illustrated in FIG. 4, and operations ofthe components are the same as the components illustrated in FIG. 4, arepetitive description of these components are omitted.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a user terminal device accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. More specifically, FIG. 8illustrates a controller 820 of a user terminal device according to anembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, the controller 820 of the user terminal deviceincludes an authentication manager 121, a download manager 122, an icongeneration manager 123, a display controller 124, a state check manager125, a deletion manager 126, and a location management manager 127. Thecomponents of the controller 120 in FIG. 8, excluding the deletionmanager 126 and the location management manager 127, are the same asthose illustrated in the controller 120 of FIG. 5, and therefore, theirdescriptions shall be omitted.

The location management manager 127 provides the above-described LBS. Inan alternative embodiment, the location management manager 127 of FIG. 8may be deleted, or equipped and used together with the deletion manager126 as illustrated in FIG. 8.

The deletion manager 126 can delete or disable the service hub program,at least one application program, and data according to the state changeof the user or the user terminal device. For example, the deletionmanager 126 can receive a list of programs to delete from the server 200and then delete the application programs from the list applicationprograms. The deletion manager 126 can request the list of the programsto delete to the server 200 every time the service hub program isexecuted, or can periodically receive the list of the programs to deletefrom the server 200 using a separate daemon program for checking whetherto delete the program. The list of the programs to delete can begenerated based on the application list provided from the user terminaldevice. That is, the deletion manager 126 sends the list of theapplications installed in the user terminal device and the uniqueinformation and the user information to the server 200. The server 200selects the application program to delete from the list of theapplications installed in the user terminal device, and then sends thelist to the user terminal device. Hence, the deletion manager 126 candelete the application program in the list.

Alternatively, the deletion manager 126 may transmit the terminal uniqueinformation or the user information to the server 200, and receive anddelete the list of the application program to delete as determined fromthe server 200. For example, the deletion manager 126 may delete everyapplication program corresponding to the service hub or the service hubprogram according to an instruction from the server 200. That is, awipe-out can be requested from the server 200, when the state changesand may to jeopardize the security maintenance, e.g., when the userresigns or does not belong to the organization anymore, or when the userterminal device is lost. For the wipe-out request, the server 200 sendsa deletion instruction for the service hub program or a deletion programfor the all the application programs to the deletion manager 126. Thedeletion instruction may be referred to as a wipe-out instruction. Thedeletion manager 126 can check whether the wipe-out instruction isreceived from the server 200 every time the service hub program isexecuted, or may periodically check whether the wipe-out instruction isreceived, using a separate daemon program.

Upon receiving the wipe-out instruction, the deletion manager 126deletes every program and data. Additionally, the deletion manager 126may delete the icon container and/or the icon display.

As described above, the deletion manager 126 may perform a kill functionfor individually deleting the application programs, or a wipe-outfunction for deleting all of the application programs or the service hubprogram and the data all together. The kill function and the wipe-outfunction can be applied separately or together. That is, the deletionmanager 126 may include a kill manager for conducting the kill functionand a wipe-out manager for conducting the wipe-out function.Accordingly, the security for the service can be maintained definitely.

While the kill function and the wipe-out function may be performedaccording to the request of the organization or the user for the server200, they can also be performed based on location or the authenticationfailure of the user terminal device. That is, the kill or wipe-outfunction can be executed also when the user terminal device leaves aneffective area over a preset time or fails the authentication. As aresult, it is possible to present an unauthorized third party from usingthe hub service.

The operations of the deletion manager 126, i.e., the kill function andthe wipe-out function can also be executed by the controller 120 asillustrated in FIG. 7, wherein the controller 120 receives a list of theapplication programs to delete or the wipe-out instruction from theserver 200 via the communication unit 150. Hence, the program or thedata stored to the memory 110 can be deleted.

FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate a method for downloading and installing aservice hub program in a user terminal device according to an embodimentof the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 9, when the user terminal device accesses the server,e.g., an application store, the user terminal device displays categoriesfor the application programs. When the user selects a menu 31“Enterprise Hub”, supporting the hub service, the user terminal deviceis connected to the server 200, which provides the hub service.

Using page data provided from the server 200, the user terminal devicedisplays groups for distinguishing the organizations of which theservice hub is registered. For example, in FIG. 9, the user terminaldevice displays the groups including “Medicine”, “Education”,“University”, etc.

When group 32 is selected, information 33 and 34 relating to theorganization of the registered service hub among the organizationsbelonging to the group 32, are displayed. That is, in the “Medicine”field, an AA hospital and a BB hospital, which have contracted with theserver 200 to receive the hub service, are displayed for the userselects his/her organization.

When the user is a worker of the AA hospital and selects an AA hospitalmenu 33, the user terminal device displays a screen 30 downloading theservice hub program for the AA hospital, as illustrated in the firstimage of FIG. 10. Specifically, the user obtains information of theservice hub program, and requests the download by selecting a downloadmenu 35.

After the download menu 35 is selected, the user terminal devicedisplays a pop-up window 36 for inputting the user information. Forexample, an input window 36 and a keypad 37 can be displayed togetherwith the pop-up window, as illustrated in FIG. 10. Alternatively, theuser may input an ID and password in person using a touch pen on thepop-up window 36. This user information can be provided from the server200 for the organization after the contract between the server 200 andthe organization, or directly designated by an operator of theorganization. The operator of the organization can notify the server 200of the users belonging to the organization of the user information invia mail, email, a text message, a webpage, etc., or in person.

When the user information is input, the user terminal device performsauthentication by transmitting the user information and uniqueinformation of the user terminal device to the server 200. When theauthentication is successful, the download of the service hub program isinitiated. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, during the download,a message indicating the downloading degree can be displayed on the userterminal device, and when the download is completed, the user terminaldevice can displays a message inquiring about whether to install theservice hub program. When the user selects a menu 38 “Install”, theservice hub program is installed to the user terminal device and theuser terminal device displays an icon container 39.

When the icon container 39 is selected, all of icons 41 in the iconcontainer 39 are displayed. As described above, the display state of theicons 41 can be altered according to installation state and versioninformation of the application program.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a server according to anembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 11, the server includes a front server unit 210, acontent server unit 220, and a main server unit 230. The content serverunit 220 stores the service hub program and the application programs.The front server unit 210 manages authority of the application programfor providing the service per enterprise and per business, and performspreprocessing functions such as initialization, authentication, andpolicy execution and management. The front server 210 routes the serviceto the content server unit 220 according to the service type, based onthe contract. That is, when the user terminal device is connected, thefront server unit 210 determines whether the user terminal device ispre-registered, and then provides the adaptive service hub program andthe application programs to the user terminal device.

When the authentication is successful, i.e., the user terminal device ispre-registered, the main server unit 230 controls the front server unit210 to transmit the service hub program corresponding to the userterminal device and the application programs corresponding to theservice hub program and the user terminal device, from among the servicehub programs and the application programs stored in the content serverunit 220, to the user terminal device.

The setup of application programs can be performed by the main serverunit 230. That is, the administrator of the server 200 or theorganization operator who accesses with a server account assigned by theserver 200 can access the main server unit 230, request generation ofthe service hub, and set the application programs.

The main server unit 230 generates the service hub when the service isrequested, and sets the service hub program and the application programcorresponding to the service hub. The main server unit 230 may allocatethe server account to the organization which requests the service, andprovide a server capacity so that the organization operator accessingwith the server account directly can set and manage the service hubprogram and the application program. Alternatively, the main server unit230 can adaptively generate the service hub program for the organizationbased on the information provided from the organization, and directlyset the application programs to be provided to the users of theorganization.

When the user terminal device receives the location information at theinitial execution of the service hub program, the main server unit 230can set the service hub program to be used in the user terminal deviceand the application program to be managed by the corresponding servicehub program, using the location information and other uniqueinformation. That is, in the initial execution at the location of theorganization A, the main server unit 230 can set the service hub programand the application program corresponding to the organization A.

Additionally, when load occurs in a particular user party, the mainserver unit 230 can establish a policy for limiting the access of theuser terminal device belonging to the user party. Herein, the user partycan be the organization itself of the user, or the group of the user inthe organization. The group can be divided to the departments or thedivisions of the organization structure, and may be divided based onother criteria, e.g., based on various criteria such as position,gender, age, marital status, blood type, etc. The main server unit 230can limit the access based on other reasons than the load. That is, whenthe contract from a particular organization is not complied with, theservice suspension is requested, or the organization is dissolved, themain server unit 230 can establish the policy for limiting the accessfor the user terminal device registered to the correspondingorganization. When the user terminal device registered in the user partyof the limited access attempts the access, the front server unit 210ignores the attempt and does not allow the access according to variouspolicies established by the main server unit 230.

When the load occurs in a particular service, the main server unit 230may establish a policy for limiting the corresponding service. That is,when application programs for providing a group mail service and a trainticket reservation service are excessively executed and subject to theoverload, the main server unit 230 can control not to execute theapplication programs supporting the corresponding services though theyare selected, or does not support the server operation in associationwith the application programs. According to the service restrictionpolicy established by the main server unit 230, the front server unit210 can limit the service for each user terminal device.

Additionally, when the location of the user terminal device leaves theeffective area, the main server unit 230 can disable the service hubprogram for the user terminal device or at least one application programfor the service hub program. That is, the main server unit 230 canprovide the LBS. According to the setup state of the main server unit230, the front server unit 210 can generate the unavailable list or theavailability information, and send it to the user terminal device.

When the state of the user terminal device changes, the main server unit230 can set the kill function for deleting at least one of theapplication programs provided to the user terminal device, or thewipe-out function for deleting at least one of every application programprovided to the user terminal device, the service hub program, and thedata generated in every program execution all together. According to theset function, the front server unit 210 can send the kill instruction orthe wipe-out instruction to the user terminal device 100. The statechange can be received from the operator of the organization or the useronline or offline. Such state changes can include a personal statechange such as a job change, retirement, transfer, time-off of the user,etc., and the state change such as loss, breakdown, or replacement ofthe device.

The main server unit 230 can support various functions per service hub.For example, the main server unit 230 can calculate the service usage onthe particular user basis and provide information of the service usage.That is, the information of the service usage can be provided directlyto the user terminal device via the front server unit 210, or the mainserver unit 230 can provide the information of the service usagedirectly to the terminal of the organization operator. The informationof the service usage can be information relating to the current downloadstate, the frequency of use, the use time, and the use cycle of theservice hub program or the application program per organization, i.e.,per enterprise, per service group, or per user. The main server unit 230defines various events as the indicator for obtaining the service usage.For example, the main server unit 230 can define the events such asdownload, execution, and execution end. In the service operation, themain server unit 230 detects the event occurrence according to thedefinition. Accordingly, the main server unit 230 calculates theinformation of the service usage by analyzing event logs, database, andserver logs. Accordingly, the service usage and the task progress peruser and per organization in the organization can be easily monitored inview of the administrator.

For example, the main server unit 230 can also support the group mailservice. When the operator of the organization, the administrator of theserver, or the user terminal device generates and requests to send groupmail by designating a particular user party, the main server unit 230can set to transmit messages to the user terminal devices correspondingto the corresponding user party using the pre-registered userinformation. The front server unit 210 transmits the corresponding groupmail to the user terminal device set by the main server unit 230.

In addition, even when a notification message is generated, the mainserver unit 230 can set to send the notification message to the userterminal devices having the reception entitlement for the notificationmessage. Accordingly, the front server unit 210 can send thenotification message.

FIG. 12 is a detailed block diagram illustrating a server according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 12, the server includes a front server unit 210, acontents server unit 220, a main server unit 230, and an open serverunit 240. The front server unit 210 includes an authentication manager211, a service handler 212, an initialization manager 213, an accesslimiter 214, and a service limiter 215.

The authentication manager 211 performs the authentication by receivingthe unique information of the device and the user information from theuser terminal device. More specifically, the authentication manager 211performs authentication by decoding and restoring the receivedinformation, comparing the information with the information providedfrom the organization, and determining whether the corresponding deviceis the device registered by the organization which requests the hubservice. Therefore, when determining the registered device, theauthentication manager 211 sends the authentication result to the userterminal device 100. While the authentication manager 211 can inquirethe main server unit 230 about the information provided from theorganization, the authentication manager 211 may fulfill theauthentication by using the information stored to the open server unit240 to reduce the load of the main server unit 230.

The service handler 212 manages the various services provided to theuser terminal device. The service handler 212 can divides the servicebetween different devices according to the type of the hub service. Morespecifically, when receiving the transmission request from the userterminal device that receives the authentication result, the servicehandler 212 transmits the service hub program corresponding to the userterminal device. The service hub program is adaptively generated for theservice hub of the registered user terminal device. The service hubprogram can partially change some functions of the program, the webpageskin, and the available application programs in accordance with thenature of the organization, and other program basic structures can bethe same.

More specifically, when the user terminal device accesses and isauthenticated by the authentication manager 211, the service handler 212routes the service hub program and the application program correspondingto the user terminal device from the contents server unit 220 to theuser terminal device.

The initialization manager 213 performs the initialization when theservice hub program is initially executed to access the user terminaldevice. That is, at the initial access of the user terminal device, theinitialization manager 213 generates the application list and the iconlist using the information registered to the open server unit 240 or themain server unit 230, and registers the terminal unique information,such as IMEI, received from the user terminal device, to the open serverunit 240 or the main server unit 230.

When the name or the organization of the user changes or when theservice hub changes, the open server unit 240 may detect this changeusing information of its open hub manager (not shown) and open usermanager (not shown). and thus, re-register the user information or theterminal unique information. Through the initialization manager 213, theuser can obtain the exact authority in real time regardless of thecompany or region and easily acquire the list of the services toreceive. The terminal unique information, can be automaticallyregistered to the server 200.

As for the user terminal device initially accessing, the initializationmanager 213 can store the unique information of the terminal not exposedto the user by mapping the unique information and the user information,and provide the container list of the corresponding service hub based onbasic data of the open server unit 240 synchronized with the main serverunit 230.

When receiving the check request for the application program download orupdate, the service handler 212 generates the list of the applicationprograms to newly download or to update and send the generated list tothe user terminal device. Accordingly, upon receiving the downloadrequest or the update request for at least one application program ofthe list, the service handler 212 transmits the requested applicationprogram or update data to the user terminal device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the service handler212 may transmit the application programs of the application programlist all at once, or when receiving the download request or the updaterequest for at least one of the application programs of the applicationprogram list, the service handler 212 may transmit the at least oneapplication program or the update data to the user terminal device.

It is not necessary that the application program list and icon list aregenerated by the initialization manager 213, and alternatively, theservice handler 212 or the main server 230 can generate the applicationprogram list and icon list.

When at least one of various source information, such as user terminaldevice, organization, group, and application program setup state,changes, the application program list and icon list can be regeneratedaccording to the change.

When a particular user party suffers from the load, the access limiter214 limits the access of the user terminal device belonging to the userparty. That is, when an error occurs during the hub service, the accesslimiter 214 can control and manage the service support on theorganization basis, that is, on the enterprise basis or on the groupbasis. That is, an access limit policy establisher 232 of the mainserver unit 230 can make and execute an access limit policy byregistering the service hub to control. When the access limit policy isexecuted, the access limiter 214 restricts the access of the userterminal corresponding to the control target according to the policy.Using the access limit policy, the overload or the error in the serviceof a particular enterprise can be addressed in real time, thus promptlypreventing the error from spreading to other services. Accordingly, theuse can be limited per organization or per group.

The front server unit 210 can include the service limiter 215 forlimiting the service when the load occurs in a service limit specificservice.

According to the service limit policy established by a service limitpolicy establisher 233 of the main server unit 230, when limiting theaccess of the system for the contents server unit 220, the servicelimiter 215 restricts the access and blocks the service. Hence, the usecan be limited per particular service.

The content server unit 220 includes a container storage 221 and acontent storage 222. The container storage 221 stores the service hubprogram corresponding to the hub service or the icon containerinformation relating to the service hub program. The content storage 222stores the application programs corresponding to the respective servicehub programs and other content. The content can be classified intovarious categories based on their attributes.

For example, the content can be divided into common content, such as afinancial application and a personnel matter application, indicatinggeneral content commonly used regardless of fields, industry contentindicating content managed per specific industry field such as hospital,school, and enterprise, and special content indicating content developedand used for a particular enterprise. For example, the content can bedivided and stored based on the fields such as electronics, chemistry,hospital, and school.

The content storage 222 stores a segment group list and content of thecorresponding organization using a hub ID allocated to a service hubnewly registered. Accordingly, when the user terminal device accessesthe server, the content storage 222 can provide the stored content.

Although not illustrated in FIG. 12, the content server unit 220 mayinclude a content generation manager, a service group and user manager,an authentication manager, etc. Accordingly, before providing thecontent, the content server unit 220 generates and provides the contentcorresponding to the user after the authentication. The list forproviding the content can be provided from the front server unit 210 orthe main server unit 230, and the content server unit 220 may generatethe list using the user information by itself and provide thecorresponding program.

The open server unit 240 independently manages the information for fastauthentication per enterprise or per business. When the front serverunit 210 requests various information for authentication, the openserver unit 240 can provide basic information using an open hub manager(not shown) and an open user manager (not shown). The variousinformation stored in the open server unit 240 can be synchronized withvarious data recorded to the main server unit 230, various data storedto the content server unit 220, and various data received via the frontserver unit 210.

More specifically, the open server unit 240 stores backup information ofat least one of the unique information of the user terminal device, theuser information of the user terminal device, the service hub programinformation provided for the user terminal device, and the applicationprogram information for the service hub program, and provides the backupinformation as sharing information. That is, when the main server unit230 manages all of the information, the front server unit 210 requeststhe information from the main server unit 230 at each authentication.The main server unit 230 is subject to the load. Therefore, the openserver unit 240 manages the backup information and provides theinformation when the authentication is conducted.

When the user terminal device initially receives the user informationinput by the user or the unique information of the terminal device, theopen server unit 240 provides basic information for generating the iconcontainer. In addition, the open server unit 240 can provide and sharethe enterprise information and the user information to and with anauthorized external institution. An external institution such asapplication developer, can expose necessary information to developapplications required for the organizations, using open ApplicationProgramming Interface (API). Because the open server unit 240 cansupport the external institution to easily develop the applications,enhancement of the application program can be activated.

The main server unit 230 includes a hub manager 231, the access limitpolicy establisher 232, a service limit policy establisher 233, alocation manager 234, a user information manager 235, and a servicerouter 236. The hub manger 231 registers the service hub when theservice is requested. The hub manager 231 may allocate the serveraccount when an organization requesting the service intends to directlymanage the service hub. That is, when the organization requesting theservice is in a certain scale, the organization may have human resourcecapable of managing the service hub. In this case, the server accountcan be requested on the contract with the administrator of the server.Therefore, the operator of the organization can access its serveraccount by inputting an ID and password in the webpage supported by theserver. Thus, the operator can directly set the application program touse in the service hub of the organization, modify, add, and delete theinformation of the user or the user terminal device registered to theservice hub, and set or utilize various services such as LBS, group mailservice, and notification message service.

When the server account is allocated to the organization operator, alogin page is displayed to the operator. That is, a page data forproviding the login page to the operator of the organization istransmitted.

When the operator inputs identification information allocated to theorganization in the login page, second page data for providing amanagement page adaptively generated for the organization istransmitted.

While the management page can be provided by the server administrator inthe beginning, the organization operator can modify and edit themanagement page some time later. The management page displays variousinformation. For example, the management page can provide a region forreading the list of the available application programs of theorganization, a region for adding, modifying, and deleting theapplication program, a region for reading member information registeredfor the organization, a region for adding, modifying, and deleting themember information, a region for classifying the members, a region forselecting the application program to be used by the classified membergroup, etc.

The login page and the management page of a similar type can be providedto the organization operator and also to the server administrator. Thatis, in the contract with a small or medium-sized enterprise or anindividual having insufficient human resources, the administrator of theserver can manage the service hub according to the request. In thiscase, the hub manager 231 can provide the same management page even whenthe administrator of the server logs on.

The access limit policy establisher 232 makes the policy for limitingthe access per organization or per group, and the service limit policyestablisher 233 makes the policy for limiting the use per service.According to the policies established by the access limit policyestablisher 232 and the service limit policy establisher 233, the accesslimiter 214 and the service limiter 215 of the front server unit 210restrict the access and the service use of the terminal device.

The location manager 234 supports the location registration and the LBS.When the service hub program is initially executed in the user terminaldevice, the location manager 234 receives and registers the locationinformation. Accordingly, the location information is referred to whenthe corresponding terminal device is authenticated or when thecorresponding service hub program and application program are set.

When the location of the user terminal device leaves the effective area,the location manager 234 disables the service hub program or at leastone application program for the service hub program with respect to theuser terminal device. Herein, the effective area and the applicationprogram to be disabled can be changed by the request of the organizationoperator or the server administrator, or by the change of the userinformation. A plurality of effective areas can be defined, anddifferent programs can be disabled in each effective area, as describedabove.

The user information manager 235 manages the information of the user orthe user terminal device registered to the service hub. Specifically,the user information manager 235 can set the kill function and thewipe-out function according to the state change of the user terminaldevice or the user.

More specifically, the user information manager 235 can periodicallycheck whether the state changes, based on the user informationfrequently or periodically transmitted from the administrator of theserver or the operator of the organization, or based on the informationtransmitted from the user terminal device itself. Accordingly, when thestate changes, the user information manager 235 sets the correspondingfunction and the front server unit 210 takes the corresponding action.

The service muter 236 mutes the service to adequately provide the userterminal device with the adaptive service hub program and applicationprogram for the user terminal device. Specifically, when theauthentication manager 211 of the front server unit 210 performs theauthentication and the service handler 212 routes the user information,the service router 236 sets the suitable service hub program andapplication programs. Accordingly, the service handler 212 can generateand send the list to the user terminal device.

As described above, the components of the server provide the servicehub. In FIG. 12, the disposition of the components is divided for easeof understanding, not to limit the disposition. That is, the serverillustrated in FIG. 12 may be explained with other components includingan interface unit, a memory, and a controller. For example, thecontroller can process all or part of the functions of the front serverunit 210, the main server unit 230, and the contents server unit 220.

FIGS. 13 through 19 illustrate screens for registering and managing aservice hub according to embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 13, when a user accesses a webpage of a server througha terminal, e.g., a PC, a login screen 50 is displayed. That is, theserver transmits page data for generating the login page to thecorresponding terminal.

When the user inputs an ID and password, the screen changes to amanagement page listing menus 51 through 54 for classifying clients ofthe supported hub server in one side, a list menu 55 for checking a listof clients (enterprises) currently selected, and an application menu 56for checking the application programs supported for the client. Themenus 51 through 54 include an enterprise menu, a Small and MediumEnterprise (SME) menu, a Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) menu, which aredivided based on the organization scale, and an application menu. Theuser can select one of the menus 51 through 54 and then select the list55 or the application menu 56.

When the list menu 55 is selected, detailed information such as list,status, nationality, and number of the devices registered, of theclients of the supported hub service is displayed.

FIG. 14 illustrates a screen 60, which is displayed when the applicationmenu 56 of FIG. 13 is selected.

Referring to FIG. 14, the application programs are classified andarranged into categories including Common 61, Industry 60, andSpecialized 63. When one category is selected, a list of the applicationprograms of the selected category is arranged. The user can select atleast one of the application programs in the list and determine tosupport the selected application program. The server 200 allocatesserver space to the organization operator as described above.Accordingly, the user, i.e., operator of the organization, can login byinputting an allocated ID and password in the login page, as illustratedin FIG. 10.

FIG. 15 illustrates a management page individually allocated andprovided to an operator of the organization.

Referring to FIG. 15, unlike the management page utilized by theadministrator of the server, the management page provided to theorganization operator is adaptively generated in the service hub.Specifically, in FIG. 15, menus including user management 71, servicegroup 72, and application management 73 are displayed on a managementpage. For example, an image adaptively generated in the service hub isdisplayed in a center area 74 of a screen. The operator of theorganization can arbitrarily change the image, and the location and thetype of the menus 71, 72 and 73.

FIG. 16 illustrates the management page, after User management 71 isselected.

Referring to FIG. 16, the screen displays information of the usersregistered to the service hub. While only ID, Name, and Status areillustrated in FIG. 16, other information such as device informationusable by each user, position, department, gender, etc., can also bedisplayed. The operator can select a particular user in the list andobtain detailed information of the user. Thus, the operator can changethe status of the user. In this case, when a user resigns, the operatorcan set the status of the user to the resignation. Accordingly, theserver intercepts the service provided to the user terminal device ofthe corresponding user. That is, the server can send the killinstruction or the wipe-out instruction for deleting the program or thedata individually or entirely.

Additionally, when the operator changes the department of the user toanother department, the server newly generates the list of theapplication programs corresponding to the changed department and therelevant icon list, and provides the lists to the user terminal device.In addition, the server sends the kill instruction for the unavailableapplication programs of the existing application programs. Accordingly,the user terminal device deletes at least one of the existingapplication programs, and downloads or updates the new applicationprograms.

As illustrated in FIG. 16, the operator can easily modify, add, anddelete the user in the list, and the screen can display a menu forsorting based on the status, or for searching.

While the effective area is not illustrated in FIG. 16, the operator canalso set the effective area. That is, when a particular user transfersfrom Seoul to Busan, the effective area can be changed from “Seoul” to“Busan”, thereby limiting the service in areas other than Busan.

FIG. 17 illustrates a screen that is displayed when the service group 72is selected.

Referring to FIG. 17, the service group 72 is divided based on theconstruction of the organization. For example, when the organization isa hospital, as illustrated in FIG. 17, the service group is divided intodepartments (surgery, administrative, security, etc.). When the operatorselects one service group in the list, the information of the usersbelonging to the corresponding service group and the information of theapplication programs provided for the service group can be displayed.Therefore, the operator can select the available application programs inthe corresponding service group all together. When the user terminaldevice belonging to the corresponding service group executes the servicehub program according to the selection of the operator, the server candownload or update the application programs of the service group alltogether or selectively.

FIG. 18 illustrates an application program management for a particularservice group. That is, when a particular service group is selected fromthe screen illustrated FIG. 17, the screen of FIG. 18 is displayed.

Referring to FIG. 18, a name and an ID of the selected service group aredisplayed at the top, and information of all application programsincluding the application program currently supported for the servicegroup is displayed in the list. The operator can determine theapplication program to support in the service group by changing theselection status for each application program.

FIG. 19 illustrates the screen that is displayed when the applicationmanagement menu 73 is selected.

Referring to FIG. 19, based on the type of sorting, the applicationprograms, the application programs currently supportable, and theapplication programs per category can be displayed in the lists.Thereafter, operator can select the application program in the list andobtain the detailed information of the application program.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a service providing method of a userterminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 20, the user terminal device accessing a server andthen downloads a service hub program in step S2010. When accessing theserver, the authentication and the location acquisition of the userterminal device can be performed.

In step S2020, the user terminal device installs the downloaded servicehub program and then displays an icon container corresponding to theservice hub program. When the icon container is selected in step S2030,the application icons included in the icon container are displayed instep S2040.

When an application icon is selected, the user terminal device canexecute the application program corresponding to the selected icon, ordownload or update the corresponding program.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a method for downloading a servicehub program according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 21, when accessing the server in step S2110, the userterminal device displays a screen according to page data provided fromthe server. The user can select the service hub program to download inthe screen and requests to download the service hub program in stepS2120.

When the download is requested, the user terminal device displays ascreen requesting the user information in step S2130 and sends inputuser information to the server in step S2140. The server performs theauthentication using the received user information.

When the authentication is successful in step S2150, the user terminaldevice sends the service hub program transmission request to the serverin step S2160, and downloads and installs the service hub program instep S2170. However, when the authentication is not successful in stepS2150, the user terminal device displays an error message in step S2180.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a method for displaying an icon of auser terminal device with an installed service hub program according toan embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 22, a service hub program is executed in step S2210,and the user terminal device transmits the unique information, the userinformation, and the identifier information of the service hub programto the server in step S2220. In step S2230, the user terminal devicereceives the list of the application programs and the list of the icons.

When the icon container is selected, the user terminal device generatesand displays the icons included in the icon container in step S2240. Atthis time, the user terminal device changes the display status of theicons by checking the installation and the version information of eachapplication program.

When the user selects an icon in step S2250, the user terminal deviceperforms the adaptive process according to the status of the applicationprogram corresponding to the selected icon. Specifically, if the statusof the selected icon is for a new icon in step S2260, the user terminaldevice downloads and installs the corresponding application program fromthe server in step S2270. If the status of the selected icon is not fora new icon, but is for the existing icon of an old version in stepS2280, the user terminal device updates the existing application programby requesting the update from the server in step S2290.

If the status of the selected icon is not for a new icon or an oldversion, i.e., when the application program of the latest version isalready installed, the user terminal device immediately executes theapplication program corresponding to the icon.

As described above, the application programs can be downloaded orupdated individually or all together.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a service providing method of a userterminal device for providing an LBS according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

Referring to FIG. 23, the user terminal device calculates its locationinformation in step S2310, and based on the location information, instep S2320, it is determined whether the user terminal device leaves aneffective area. As described above, the user terminal device receivingthe effective area information from the server can directly determine ifit leaves the effective area, or the user terminal device may transmitthe location information to a server and the server may determine if theuser terminal device leaves the effective area by comparing the locationinformation with the registered effective area information.

When determining the effective area secession, i.e., when it isdetermined that the user terminal device has left the effective area,the availability of at least one application program or the service hubprogram is limited in step S2330. As described above, the availabilitycan be limited by the server, by receiving the availability informationfrom the server or by receiving the list of the programs to disable, orthe user terminal device may disable a particular program by itself byreferring to the preset application program information.

When the user terminal device returns to the effective area in stepS2340, the availability of the disabled programs is restored to the userterminal device in step S2350. As described above, the restoration canbe instructed by the intervention of the server, or determined by theuser terminal device itself.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a method for changing a servicebased on a state change according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 24, a service hub program is installed in step S2410,and an icon container is displayed in step S2420. When the state of auser changes in step S2430, the user terminal device can delete at leastone of the program and the data in step S2440. In this case, the userterminal device can delete some of the application programs, or deleteall of the application programs or the service hub program and the datagenerating in the program execution all together. This operation can becarried out according to the instruction of the server.

Alternatively, the deletion as illustrated in FIG. 24, it is notnecessary, and instead, the program can be processed as being in anunavailable state.

FIG. 25 is a signal flow diagram for illustrating operations between auser terminal device and a server.

Referring to FIG. 25, after an authentication is conducted between theuser terminal device and the server in step S2510, a service hub programis transmitted in step S2520. In step S2530, the application programsare transmitted to the user terminal device, all together orselectively.

When an agreement is made in advance between the organization and theserver, and the server and the user terminal device are of the samemanufacturer or in a particular contract, the user terminal device soldto the organization may already include the service hub program and theapplication programs preloaded therein.

As such, when various application programs are installed, the user canuse each application program using the service hub program, i.e., usingthe icon container. As described above, the application program is nothidden such that it is not displayed by a menu or file manager, but isrevealed when the icon container is executed.

The user terminal device and the server provide various adaptiveservices to the service hub. That is, the user terminal device sendslocation information in step S2540, and based on the locationinformation and the effective area information, the server determineswhether the user terminal device leaves the effective area in stepS2550. Thereafter, the server sends the availability information to theuser terminal device in step S2560.

In step S2570, the user terminal device limits the availability of theprograms based on the availability information.

In step S2580, when the state of the user or the user terminal devicechanges and the service use is to be limited, the server sends the killinstruction or the wipe-out instruction to the user terminal device instep S2590. Thereafter, the user terminal device deletes the program orthe data in step S2595.

FIG. 26 illustrates a service providing method of a server according toan embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 26, the server receives an access attempt from a userterminal device in step S2610, and determines whether to permit theaccess, based on the relevant policy in step S2620. That is, the serverblocks the access attempt of the user terminal device belonging to theaccess-limited organization or the organization of the unregisteredservice hub.

When permitting the access and receiving the transmission request forthe service hub program in step S2630, the server determines, based onthe service limit policy, whether to block the service in step S2640. Instep S2650, when determining to provide the service, the servertransmits the service hub program and the application programs.

FIG. 27 illustrates a service providing method of a server according toan embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 27, a service hub is registered in step S2710, and theserver sets the corresponding service hub program in step S2720. In stepS2730, the server sets the application programs. Without the separatesetting, all of the default application programs can be set for thecorresponding service hub program, and instead, application programsselected by the server administrator or the organization operator may beset.

When the user terminal device accesses the server, the server providesthe service hub program in step S2740, and provides the applicationprograms in step S2750. Before providing these programs, theauthentication can be performed.

When the load occurs in a particular user party or in the service use instep S2760, the server establishes the limit policy for the service orthe user party of the load in step S2770. When the terminal devicerequesting the service or the terminal device belonging to the userparty requests the access or the program download, the server blocks theattempt.

The server frequently or periodically checks whether the user terminaldevice leaves the effective area in step S2780, and thus limits theavailability in step S2790.

The server may frequently or periodically check whether the state ischanged in step S2800 and delete the program and at least one of thecontent in step S2810. As such, the server provides various services toeach user terminal device registered to the service hub and blocks theservice use, if necessary, so that the users of the user terminaldevices can easily utilize the device while maintaining the security.

Although the service hub program and the application program aredescribed above, the provision for the service hub is not limited to theservice hub program and the application program. That is, basic contentsuch as general data can be provided per service hub and per servicegroup.

The information of the organizations provided with the service hub maybe shared with the authorized external institution so that the externalinstitutions can develop the usable application programs for the servicehub and the organizations and register them to the server. The servercan store the registered program to the content server unit and the openserver unit, and provide the program to the service hubs if necessary,thereby reinforcing the serviceability of the service hub.

That is, the application program developer freely develops theapplication program using the various sharable information provided fromthe server and registers it to the server. The server allocates the IDto the registered application program and manages the applicationprogram. The server allocates the service hub ID to the organizationrequesting the service and registers the service hub. In particular, theserver allocates the server space to the organization or the individualwho intends to manage the service hub and allows the direct management.By contrast, the server may directly manage for the organization or theindividual that wants the management agent.

As described above, the service provided from the server targets theorganization such as enterprise. Accordingly, this service may bereferred to as a Business to Business (B2B) service.

Additionally, while various terms including the service hub, the servicehub program, and the icon container are used in the description above,these terms indicate the service for integrally managing and supportingthe plurality of the services and may be expressed as other terms of thesame meaning.

The service providing methods described above can also be stored tovarious recording media and implemented by program codes executed by aCentral Processing Unit CPU of a user terminal device or a server.

More specifically, the codes for executing the above service providingmethods can be stored to various recording media readable by theterminal or server, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM), a flashmemory, a Read Only Memory (ROM), an Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM),an Electronically Erasable and Programmable ROM (EEPROM), a register, ahard disc, a removable disc, a memory card, a Universal Serial Bus (USB)memory, and a CD-ROM.

Although certain embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed in detail hereinabove, it should be clearly understood thatmany variations and/or modifications of the basic inventive conceptsherein taught which may appear to those skilled in the present art willstill fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention, asdefined in the appended claims and any equivalents thereof.

1. A service providing method of a user terminal device, the methodcomprising: downloading, by the user terminal device, a service hubprogram; installing the service hub program; generating an iconcontainer corresponding to the service hub program; displaying the iconcontainer on a screen; receiving an input selecting the icon container;receiving, from a server, a first list including application programscorresponding to the service hub program and a second list includingicons of the application programs; and displaying the icons of theapplication programs.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:transmitting unique information and user information of the userterminal device to the server; and if the server authenticates the userterminal device based on the unique information and the userinformation, downloading the service hub program.
 3. The method of claim1, further comprising: transmitting unique information and userinformation of the user terminal device, and identification informationof the service hub program to the server.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the first list includes at least one application program set foran organization and a group to which a user of the user terminal devicebelongs.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: downloading thatapplication programs included in the first list from the server; andinstalling the downloaded application programs.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein the icons of the application programs comprises: if there isan application program to be updated or installed from among theapplication programs included in the first list, changing an icondisplay status of the application program to be updated or installed toinform a status of the application program.
 7. The method of claim 6,further comprising: if an icon corresponding to an un-installedapplication program from among the displayed icons is selected,downloading the un-installed application program from the server andinstalling the downloaded application program; and if an iconcorresponding to an old version application program from among thedisplayed icons is selected, downloading a latest version data regardingthe old version application program from the server and updating theprogram.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying a menutree of the user terminal device according to a user command, wherein amenu regarding an application program included in the first list ishidden on the menu tree.
 9. A user terminal device, comprising: astorage unit that stores a service hub program and an applicationprogram; a display unit that displays an icon container corresponding tothe service hub program; and a control unit that controls the displayunit to display icons regarding application programs corresponding tothe service hub program on a screen, if the icon container is selected.10. The device of claim 9, further comprising: a communication unit thatdownloads the service hub program and the application programs from theserver.
 11. The device of claim 10, further comprising an input unit forinputting user information, wherein the control unit transmits the inputuser information and unique information of the user terminal device tothe server for authentication.
 12. The device of claim 11, wherein thecontrol unit executes the service hub program, transmits the userinformation, the unique information, and identification information ofthe service hub program, and receives, from the server, a first listincluding the application programs corresponding to the service hubprogram and a second list including icons of the application programs;and generates the icon container including the icons regarding theapplication programs and provides them to the display unit.
 13. Thedevice of claim 12, wherein the first list comprises at least oneapplication program set for an organization and a group to which a userof the user terminal device belongs.
 14. The device of claim 13, whereinthe control unit downloads the application programs included in thefirst list from the server and installs the downloaded programs in thestorage unit.
 15. The device of claim 13, wherein the control unitcontrols the display unit to change an icon display status of theapplication program to inform a status of the application program, ifthere is an application program to be updated or installed from amongthe application programs included in the first list.
 16. The device ofclaim 15, wherein the control unit, if an icon corresponding to anun-installed application program from among the displayed icons isselected, downloads the un-installed application program from the serverand installs the downloaded application program; and if an iconcorresponding to an old version application program from among thedisplayed icons is selected, downloads a latest version data regardingthe old version application program from the server and updates the oldversion application program.
 17. The device of claim 11, furthercomprising: a location calculation unit that calculates locationinformation of the user terminal device.
 18. A user terminal device,comprising: an authentication manager that performs authentication bytransmitting unique information and user information of the userterminal device to a server; a download manager that downloads a servicehub program, a first list including application programs correspondingto the service hub program, and a second list including icons of theapplication programs from the server, when the authentication issuccessful; an icon generation manager that generates an icon containerincluding the icons of the application programs in the first list; and adisplay controller that displays the icon container on a screen.
 19. Thedevice of claim 18, further comprising: a state check manager thatchanges a display status of an icon in the icon container according to acurrent installation status of an application program corresponding tothe icon.
 20. The device of claim 18, wherein the download managerdownloads the service hub program from the server and installs theservice hub program in the user terminal device, requests a list ofavailable application programs by transmitting unique information of theuser terminal device, the user information, and identificationinformation of the service hub program to the server, and receives thefirst list and the second list from the server according to the request.